True Solution of the Sword Dao

The massive aura above Kyoto City slowly dissipated, returning to its original dark grey night sky.

At the gate of Yan Capital University, Lin Fei quietly looked up at the huge cyclone in the sky that was slowly vanishing. Beside him stood Shuang’er, also looking up at the sky with a similar expression.

The two of them stood at the university gate, students continuously passing by without giving them so much as a glance, as if they were invisible.

"Brother, is the plan still going smoothly?" Shuang’er whispered.

"It’s all right," Lin Fei smiled, "Although there were some twists and turns, we’ve achieved our goal. Now, all we need to do is wait."

"Oh," Shuang’er’s face brightened as she nodded gently.

Lin Fei knew she wasn’t happy because the plan had succeeded, but because her own objective had been met. This pure emotion was solely stirred by his own joys and sorrows.

******************

Wu Family headquarters.

Located in the outskirts of Kyoto City, within a secluded estate whose exact location remains unknown.

Wu Haiyi sat in a high-backed chair in his room, his left hand caressing a ring between his fingers. The diamond that was once set in it was now missing, leaving only a small indentation. The room was completely silent except for Wu Haiyi’s faint breathing. He spent a long time each day adjusting his state of mind, reflecting on the day’s missteps and decisions, a habit he had developed over the years.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Come in," Wu Haiyi said calmly.

The door slowly opened. A young woman with a pretty face walked in, looking serious. She wore a white lab coat that concealed her naturally fine figure.

"Cousin, something’s not right."

Wu Haiyi turned his face toward her.

"Not right? What’s not right?" he asked.

The woman was his cousin Wu Qingyuan, who managed research analysis work in the family’s testing lab.

"That strand of flame you brought back, there’s something very wrong with it," Wu Qingyuan frowned, "You’ll see what I mean when you look at it."

Wu Haiyi felt a sudden jolt in his heart, his mind racing back to the sword-wielding young man he had encountered earlier. He stood up immediately.

"Let’s go to the lab now," he commanded.

The two quickly left the room and followed the corridor to its end, stopping in front of a bedroom.

Wu Qingyuan spoke in a deep voice, "I’ve temporarily converted this bedroom space into a lab, and while it’s not the family headquarters lab, it has the basic necessary equipment."

Wu Haiyi nodded from behind her.

Wu Qingyuan took out a key, opened the door, and walked in.

The original bed space inside the room had been replaced with a series of connected lab tables. The surroundings were filled with various container racks over one person tall and equipment flashing complex curve data, intermittently emitting rhythmic beeping sounds.

Wu Qingyuan carefully closed the door.

"Follow me," she whispered to Wu Haiyi. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

The latter’s expression also grew solemn. He had never seen his cousin this serious before.

The two walked one after another to a white cabinet that resembled a refrigerator. Wu Qingyuan pulled open the door, and a blast of cold air rushed out.

She carefully took out a small transparent box, only as big as a fist, made from a glass-like material. Through the casing, one could clearly see an embedded transparent diamond. Inside the diamond, a strand of blue flame was quietly burning. This was exactly the part of the Divine Artifact Wu Haiyi had held earlier.

"Take a look," Wu Qingyuan handed the small box to Wu Haiyi.

"What’s wrong?" Wu Haiyi took it, looking carefully, but saw nothing unusual.

Wu Qingyuan didn’t speak but pulled out a stack of photos from her lab coat’s top pocket. "Compare these," she said.

Wu Haiyi took the photos with a puzzled look, slowly separating them one-by-one. His eyes had just skimmed over them when his pupils abruptly contracted.

*****************

In the brightly magnificent hall, a huge chandelier, reminiscent of a skirt, hung from the ceiling, casting dazzling light.

At that moment, the entire hall was filled with a tense aura.

Seated in the highest positions were the two old men, Wu Duanshan and Wu Duanhe, the family heads of the Wu Family. Below them, all the family elites were seated in two rows, their expressions solemn. No one spoke, as if they were all quietly waiting for something.

Wu Duanshan glanced over the family members below and said in a deep voice, "Those present are all elite-class warriors of our Wu Family. You must all be aware of the situation of the battle, right?"

"Forgive my bluntness," Wu Siyun, his half-brother sitting beside Wu Haiyi, said as he stood up. "Great Grandfather, we severely miscalculated the strength of the domestic forces. We must now revise our plans."

"Indeed, we were forced to withdraw from Kyoto City District. The situation is very grim. The strength of the Forest of the Sky and Jinneng Temple exceeded our expectations," said a woman with her hair dyed golden who was sitting across from him.

"I also think we should modify our plans immediately. The unexpected death of the White has greatly impacted our original plans," Wu Yanqing, Wu Haiyi’s father, also spoke up.

Wu Duanshan and Wu Duanhe exchanged glances.

"Qingzhu and Yao Qin’s strength is indeed formidable. Just the Forest of the Sky alone has such powerful strength, plus the three bald heads from Jinneng Temple, your great uncle and I could only be suppressed. Five people of the same level against us two, even though we have the Divine Artifact’s split form to amplify our powers, it’s still very strenuous," Wu Duanshan said gravely. "Additionally, Wu Haiyi, you lost one of your Divine Artifact splits, what exactly happened?"

Wu Haiyi, having anticipated this would be brought up, stood up composedly.

"Great Grandfather, all my uncles and aunts, you’re all aware of my strength. The loss of the Divine Artifact split was unavoidable. The Scarlet Hand is an old and top-level Dream Eater that you may have heard of. Then there are also several other lesser-known but nevertheless strong rogues. Had I not successfully diverted their attention with the plan, our losses would have been greater," he said.

"That is true. I know Haiyi’s character well, and I believe what he says," a middle-aged man dressed like a mob boss said gravely.

Wu Haiyi nodded with a smile.

"Thank you Uncle Jiande for your trust. However, the main point I want to make is not that."

"Oh?" Wu Jiande asked, puzzled. "What troublesome issue did you encounter?"

Wu Haiyi said seriously, "Indeed, there is some trouble."

Seeing that he had captured the attention of everyone around him, Wu Haiyi knew the timing was just right.

"Today, while carrying out the plan, I encountered a mysterious powerful entity. He, too, was competing for a part of the Divine Artifact but unlike the Scarlet Hand and the others, he did not reveal himself initially. He only appeared at the end to block my path back to our formation."

"Didn’t you send out only one split?" asked a middle-aged woman, puzzled.

"Aunt Shufen, you may not know," Wu Haiyi said with a smile. "Throughout the battle with him, initially, he hid his true power. It seemed as if he doubted whether I was the real deal. Only then did he suddenly unleash his full strength. In an instant, my split was completely destroyed."

"At least five people present here could do that as well, which doesn’t prove much. It only shows that this person is a very strong Dream Eater. But then again, anyone daring to compete for a Divine Artifact must have absolute confidence in themselves," Wu Duanhe interjected.

"However, the reason my split lost to him is because it was countered by his attribute. There aren’t many attributes that can counter mine, and his attribute is exceptionally dominant. Therefore, I secretly captured a strand of his aura and used the Divine Artifact split to suppress it. But unexpectedly... this type of aura, which I refer to as Blue Fire energy, actually countered all the attribute energies my cousin had stored!" Wu Haiyi said gravely.

"All?!" Wu Duanshan exclaimed in shock. "Qingyuan also has my attribute, could it be..." he slowly stood up from his seat.

Suddenly, the entire hall fell silent. Wu Duanhe and Wu Duanshan were the main pillars of the entire family, and their attributes were also the most powerful and dominant. So far, there had been no mention of any attribute that could counter their level. Even the Dream Eaters from other powers were only of the same level and there was no pure counter to speak of anymore.

"A Dream Eater’s attribute is determined by the strength of its main body. Even if there is a pure attribute counter, it wouldn’t have much of an effect. Generally, the stronger the Dream Eater’s main body, even if there is an attribute that could originally counter his, it might change due to the strength difference, and become a reverse counter or not counter at all. As the strength increases, the purity and quality of the aura also continuously improve," Wu Qingyuan stood up and explained.

"So, are you saying that the owner of this aura might be stronger than the family head?" Wu Siyun said gravely.

"Initially, I also had this suspicion," Wu Qingyuan stated solemnly, "but the results of the final experiment were not as such. Everyone, please look." She raised her hand and instantly, the great hall dimmed, and a screen suddenly appeared floating in the air above all the seats.

"This is my Dream Space; I can easily show some experimental data and images," Wu Qingyuan explained.

This layer of the Dream Space energy was very weak, weak enough that anyone could easily break free with a slight touch, clearly not meant for combat.

On the appearing screen, a series of experiment processes began to play.

The first segment showed a blue fire being stored next to an orange flame. Almost instantly, the blue fire completely engulfed the orange flame, swelling and contracting violently, with only a hint of blue flame remaining in the diamond, as if nothing had been stored at the start.

The next segment introduced a grey aura with silver sparkles. The result was the same, immediately after being stored, it was engulfed by the blue fire and disappeared without a trace.

"Isn’t that Wu Wushuang’s aura?" voices rose in the hall, and in one spot, a beautiful young girl looked distressed.

The third and fourth segments continued, each containing the auras of different family elites, but without exception, all were completely countered. (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to recommend, vote for monthly tickets at qidian.com, your support is my greatest motivation.)